The 4M mission is dedicated to Manfred Fuchs who died early this year. 4M stands for the Manfred Memorial Moon Mission.Credit: OHB/LuxSpace

European space technology company, OHB AG, is conducting a private satellite mission to the Moon, due to be launched at the end of October 2014.

The mission is a lunar flyby with the small satellite getting a ride into space via the last stage of a Chinese booster.

The 4M mission is dedicated to OHB founder, Manfred Fuchs, who died early this year. 4M stands for the Manfred Memorial Moon Mission.

OHB founder, Manfred Fuchs, who died early this year.Credit: OHB

The technical management of the mission — as well as the manufacturing of the probe – is being done by LuxSpace of Luxembourg, an affiliate of OHB AG.

LuxSpace chiefly develops micro satellites and actively participates in the OHB System-led Small GEO initiative.The spacecraft trajectory will be a lunar flyby and return to Earth, with 90 percent chance of re-entry in the Earth’s atmosphere.

The nominal mission duration is 196 hours: 8.17 days.

The nominal lunar flyby will occur on Oct 28, 2014, with the spacecraft slipping over the Moon’s surface at roughly 8,000 miles (13,000 km) distance.

The mission will carry a small number of small scientific instruments: a radio amateur beacon that permits the sending of messages while testing a new approach to locate the spacecraft.

4M spacecraft – a private mission to the Moon.Credit: OHB/LuxSpace

An additional instrument is onboard to yield radiation measurements throughout the satellite’s trajectory around the Moon. The RAD experiment is a special chip from iC-Málaga (Spain) that is able to accurately measure the radiation dose rate.

Further moon missions including landing are planned within the next few years.